Dead Or Alive 2017
With the upcoming Dead or Alive show, I’d say that I would review last year’s show.
Date: 05/05/2017
Arena: Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
Attendance: 6,000
Over Generation (Eita & Gamma) & Drastik Boy vs. Tribe Vanguard (Flamita, Kzy & Yosuke Santa Maria)
This was a great opener for the show. Classic DG tag team match, very quick, exciting, non-stop. The match had one pace from the very start, whether it was Kzy and Eita or Flamita and Drastik Boy, everyone went full speed, putting on a great show. Santa Maria’s comedy was kept to a minimum in this match part from one water spot. Flamita and Drastik did there usual highflying stuff but Kzy outshined them in that department imo. Landing on his feet after a step up summersault to the outside. Good way to start Dead Or Alive. (***¼)
Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. VerserK (Punch Tominaga & ‘brother’ YASSHI)
“MOCHI” This was a different type of tag team match, lots of brawling to the outside with them going all other the arena which was very surprising. One part of the match was when the camera panned to Mochizuki’s face, who was bewildered at the sight of YASSHI and Fujii fighting on the balcony. Very amusing. Fun, entertaining match. Best parts involved Mochizuki kicking the life out of Punch Tominaga. (**¾ )
----- The steel cage entrants had an interview segment. Cyber Kong said he was the only one on that stage to never be Dream Gate champion. That ends today. Takagi said it has been nearly 9 months since he lost the title to YAMATO. He’s bored. Nothing has changed in those 9 months. Where is this supposed Golden Age of Dragon Gate that YAMATO proclaimed to bring? He is a liar and a fraud. His time is up. Takagi has no choice but take the title back and steer the course his own way. Hulk apologized to YAMATO. He feels bad, but he wants to win, even if that means YAMATO ends up bald and beltless. Doi received a big reaction. He was back in Nagoya as Naruki Doi of MaxiMuM. He was going to stave off the interference from the others, and defeat YAMATO to secure a happy ending for everyone. YAMATO thanked the fans for filling the arena to capacity again this year. He survived last year, and will do so again this year. The Golden Age starts today. - iHeartDG -----
Open The Brave Gate Title Match: Jimmy Kagetora © vs. Takehiro Yamamura
Excellent Open The Brave Gate match. Told a nice story with Kagetora working on Yamamura’s selling the entire match and Yamaura trying to overcome that and beat the champion Kagetora while trying to establish himself. The work on the leg by Kagetora eventually saves Kagetora on multiple occasions with Yamaura failing to capitalized on the corkscrew moonsault, landing on his leg at one time. Yamamura’s selling of the leg was good as well, even when he was running around, you could see his struggling at times. Good babyface performance from him in this match. (***¾).
----- Yamamura refused a handshake from Kagetora. Kage was really impressed with him. He was doing things 18 months in his career that Kagetora wasn’t even thinking about at the same experience level. He is looking forward to watching him grow into a fearsome opponent. He was planning on still being Brave Gate champion when that happens, so he is welcome to challenge again. - iHeartDG -----
Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi HAGeeMee, Jimmy K-ness JKS, Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Jimmy Saito) vs. MaxiMuM (Ben-K, Big R Shimizu, Kotoka & Masato Yoshino)
Another good multi-man tag team match. Kinda hard to notice everything in the match, so this will be rather short. Everyone looked great, everyone’s styles meshed well and the match was well structured. ***½
Open The Twin Gate Title Match: Over Generation (CIMA & Dragon Kid) (c) vs. VerserK (El Lindaman & T-Hawk)
Excellent Tag Team Match by these two. They told a simple but effective story really well and it made for a fun 20 minute match. The match started with CIMA and Dragon Kid being in control, dominating T-Hawk and El Lindaman through their experience, knowledge and just being much, much better than the young duo. Of course, T-Hawk and Lindaman eventually get back in the match through devious means. But they couldn’t keep two greats down for long who eventually outsmarted them and won the match. This match had lots of near falls and all of them were done well and it made this match very dramatic in parts. Some great one on one action, some awesome tag team wrestling. Great match all round. ****
Open The Dream Gate Title vs. Hair vs. Mask Five Way Steel Cage Match:YAMATO © vs. BxB Hulk vs. Cyber Kong vs. Naruki Doi vs. Shingo Takagi
Here is what I could find about the rules of the main event: “4 Flags in each corner of the on top of the cage, Open the Dream Gate on top, in the center of a panel.Any challenger (not YAMATO) may be eliminated at any time by Pin, Submission or KO.Challengers must retrieve a flag to become eligible for the Championship.
When it’s down to YAMATO and one challenger, the winner will be decided by who retrieves the Open the Dream Gate Belt. This is the only way YAMATO can be eliminated. The loser will lose their hair or mask”. - VOW
Even though the rules may be confusing on a paper, this match was really simple in its execution. At first I was confused as to way Kong making it to the end has the most to lose but then I saw it as, the closer you get to the title, the bigger the risk and that makes perfect sense to me. The match itself was incredible, so chaotic, so much fun to watch, very creative and exciting. Doi was fantastic throughout the match, YAMATO was pretty good also. This was a war and it looked like it by the end of the match. It definitely lived up to the name of the show, Dead or Alive. Phenomenal match. ****¾
---- YAMATO survived extensive interference to retrieve the belt, leaving Cyber Kong as the loser. As per the rules, he had to remove his mask, reveal his real name and age. HE refused. The cage was built higher than he expected. Who could climb that thing? He offered up Tominagas’ hair as a substitute sacrifice. YAMATO was having none of that. Kong eventually relented. He went to remove it himself, but YAMATO stopped him. Several years ago, he was the loser of a cage match. He sat down in the chair like a man and let Cyber Kong cut his hair. Today, Kong should be a pro and do the same. Kong sat while YAMATO removed his mask. Kong also disputed the rules about his name and age. After further pressing he revealed himself as Takashi Yoshida, age 34 from Osaka Prefecture. This wasn’t the end. He’s lost everything now, so he has nothing left to fear. Verserk were going to continue to wreak havoc. Verserk left.
YAMATO said that the wrestler known as Cyber Kong is now gone. He urged Yoshida to consider his new ringname.
YAMATO thanked the fans for giving him the power to survive. He was battered and bruised, but was still champion. He thanked them for coming all the way to Aichi or watching on TV. King of Gate starts on Tuesday. He plans on winning again. He also planned on being still being champion at Dead or Alive 2018. He thanked Maria, Kzy, Flamita, & Hulk for their assistance today. Today, as always, wasn’t he just the coolest? ----
Now that was an awesome show. Three great matches, all good in their own way and different from each other. The undercard was good, fun, nothing was bad or boring. Everything breezed by. Watched the entire show in one sitting apart from the main event apart from the main event (watched it later in the day). Totally recommend this show to anyone.
MVP: Naruki Doi
MOTN: Main Event Steel Cage
Grade: A
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